Into The Dark Night
Into the Dark Night
The lamentations of death compassed me about; the pains of hell surrounded me; I cried in my tribulation... A Biblical Quotation
There are definitive stages on ones spiritual journey when Life draws us deep into the dark and unfamiliar. The “truths” and tangible relativities that we have created as sure footholds upon our imagined ladder of spiritual ascent start to crumble or dissipate into the inner spiritual void. The ephemeral and illusive qualities of what we thought was reality become apparent. We waver in the inbreath of the soul and our whole world begins undoing.
This is the dark night...
In this night we have moments of panic. We walk into it as the voices of unnumbered fears incessantly whisper to us to turn around and go back. In the darkness we lapse in to moments of confusion as all temporal identifications are suspended and we desperately grasp at what we think we know. We try to hold on to those forms and ideals that have given us security and comfort as we navigate through the labyrinth of duality. Here we feel the futility and know the sad realization that all that we thought we knew, all the insight we had gained, is as nothing.
Intuitionally we feel that the Dark Night is an invitation to a deeper shift in awareness but we are called into the dark with no signpost to guide or to point out the direction.
From out of those moments of inner confusion we look out into the world. We see its madness and our own. The wails of samsara assail our ears and the aridity of our existence dawns upon us as the suffering of those around us become apparent. We question our purpose and we recognize our loneliness and separation, feeling the pain of all those bound to the great deception. Life as we know it has no meaning, we have no meaning...strange and obscure reasoning arises.
As it gets to the deeper stages, we are in moments overwhelmed. How long must we endure, how much can we endure? We seek a means of possible escape but realize there is nowhere to go. We pass through terrible phases of fear, loss, panic and death. We have plunged into the depths and have lost all sense of up and down and feel like we are being held underwater. We are truly helpless and have lost all expectant hope and know only the denial of love.
And still it gets darker...
As we stumble through the greatest dark we cry out in our torment. We writhe in anguish, with no balm to soothe our wounds or water to quench our parched lips. We wonder what we have done to be so denied of god. We are pushed to the depths of loneliness and despair...we fall to our knees as we struggle to understand what has bought us to such forsakenness?
This contemplation is not only dark, but also secret...St John of the Cross
The secret of the dark night is one hidden in deep inner affliction. This is the grace of the deeper communion and unravelling into our inner unknowing. The true dark night is the communication of divine in secret, hidden from the self, purging us of all that hinders it expression. Its revelation must come through total self abandonment as the deeper heart calls us into the darkness but only to deny us.
In the words of St John of the Cross...
"For this night is gradually drawing the spirit away from its ordinary and common experience of things and bringing it nearer the Divine sense, which is a stranger and an alien to all human ways. It seems now to the soul that it is going forth from its very self, with much affliction. At other times it wonders if it is under a charm or spell, and it goes about marvelling at the things it sees and hears, which seem to it very strange and rare, though they are the same that it was accustomed to experience aforetime. The reason of this is that the soul is now becoming alien and remote from common sense and knowledge of things, in order that, being annihilated in this respect, it may be informed with the Divine."
As we traverse the way the experienced seeker will know many such nights. During these periods of dissolution one is asked to let go of all meditative work, all elusive seeking and that which might dupe the personality to focus upon itself during these times. Frustration, confusion and restlessness will only come as the result. Through the night we must let go of all that we think we are and these reflexes of self must be seen for what they are.
As our journey goes on, we understand that each night must get deeper and darker. The self often cries in pain of recognition as it enters the darkness knowing its trials, loneliness and frustration. Each entrance means a denial and a death. Yet in our emergence we begin to see with an ever deepening clarity that which we were blinded by and that we were kept from. We realize that all that we once were must be dissolved and discarded. Through our suffering, a deeper clarity and a deeper empathy is awoken from within and we see the arrogance of our ways and the futility of all that we have done.
Through each purgation we have visions and moments of unspeakable clarity as veils become transparent. The revelation of divine reality dissolves all hindrances to the deeper equanimity. The unknown stands revealed and expands into true realization. The phenomena and false light of duality is seen as the illusive play that it is and all that has held us enamoured of this world is obscured...is blotted out by this dark love of God.
Seekers of Love, let it be known the path is often hard and has its perils. It should not be considered lightly. Upon the true journey home we have been warned by our elders of two dark stages, two great nights among many lesser ones. They are the deepest purgation of soul and the darkest and most formidable night brings about a true union with the divine.
Here upon the path of salvation, into the darkest of nights, is where the world is dissolved forever and our divine reorientation begins.
The way in which they are to conduct themselves in this night of sense is to devote themselves not at all to reasoning and meditation, since this is not the time for it, but to allow the soul to remain in peace and quietness, although it may seem clear to them that they are doing nothing and are wasting their time, and although it may appear to them that it is because of their weakness that they have no desire in that state to think of anything. The truth is that they will be doing quite sufficient if they have patience and persevere in prayer without making any effort....
The Dark Night of the Soul St John of the Cross